Finishing the Coved Corner

 Well, now we have to mud in the seams of the plastic sheet. Tools are at the ready!

 First heavy coat is up and water handy for some mild leveling.

 Putting more light on the subject to ensure level work

 Bouncing the light around as we place the final coat of mud.

Painted to match the wall. Close to ready for the backdrop.

Coving our First Corner in Paxinos

 Well, I would like to put up a photo mural as the backdrop to Paxinos so I have to cove the corner so it will flow through the scene.  Paul and Ed did the initial work to cut grooves in the wall for the heavy plastic sheet to fit into to make it easier for me to spackle the panel in place. I placed a test panel in place to check the strength and to measure the distance from the rear of the sheet to the center of the corner. It was 4 5/8 inches. Seemed to work okay.

 I then hot glued a panel of cardboard into the corner and perpendicular to the plastic sheet to strength it. I will have to paint the sheet and then put on the mural and I did not want it to move around. I left the test panel in place as I set the cardboard to make sure it did not distort the plastic.

 Jason was my assistant - and I was glad to have him as he had to hand me a lot of stuff as I was in a  small place. I do not get my photo on the blog often so Jason took a a couple of cameos.

 Now I am removing the test panel to ready the place for the full panel. I worked with Dylan on a drill press to countersink holes in the plastic sheet so the sheet rock screws would not be above the surface. He drilled about 20 holes as we spaced them every 4 inches. He is a great helper. He is anxious to start scenery and wants to make trees. We will have to get him into that as I need mucho.

 Here is the panel in place. You can see the sheet rock screws on the edge. I also placed a healthy amount of Liquid nails Project glue on the back of the panel. I really do not want this sheet to move. The foreground will be a low hill that blends into the corner so you will not see that lower joint.

 A closer view. I tested its flex and there is none with that cardboard backer. I am very happy how that came out. The screws are very close to flush so I am hopeful I will not have to put a lot of spackle on it. I need to let it sit for a couple of days to be sure the glue has dried.

From the other wall. Our two projects with the family made great progress. Now I have to finish them  up.

Fascia Goes in on the Branch Line out of Sunbury

 Well, Easter of 2018 was a big day as we added fascia on the some of the oldest bench work in the layout. This is the branch line out of Sunbury, and the crossing of the main. Jason and my grandsons Dylan and Ian came to visit and help Grandpa. Dylan really liked the safety glasses and thought he looked cool. They did not like the ear muffs that I had for them though.

 Jason is working to get the boys organized. We cut the fascia the day before and today we are going to put it up.

 Dylan is still feeling buff as we get ready. He likes that he will use the nail gun.

 Dylan is in a posed action shot as we put up the upper members for the fascia panels.

 We are doing some final cuts on a section of fascia as Ian is now the cameraman

 He is shorter than us so takes some unique action shots of us cutting.

 We are just about done.

 Grandpa is really getting into it now!

 The finished job. All he cuts were on that left side where the fascia dips down to the river.

Here is the right side where Dylan was standing earlier as it curves around and dips to the river as well.

Building the Actual Plug and Finishing the Hill.

 So, we take our plug base to the workshop

  I am going to use red foam for lightness and strength in the walls

 I traced the sides of the box onto the red foam and have cut it with a knife to match. I bought some foam glue to assemble it.

 Foam glue works but takes time to set. I used squares to ensure vertical walls while it dried.

 Box is coming together. The diagonal wall is a pain but we get it together

 He is the bottom half of the box. I had one foot wide pieces so I had to glue a second level on.

 The other side

 Here is the plug in the box so I can trace the upper sections of wall that I need.

 Plug is complete. I have hot glued tabs for the webbing to attach to.  I also added a cardboard center spine to hold he webbing on its long span.

 Side view

 I now have to complete the webbing of the hill. I added another cardboard rib to hold the webbing on a long span.

 Webbing going in and tied to the box.

 Plug is now getting its webbing.

 Cross weave  is in and trim pieces added along the side.

 I have added the red rosin paper covering of the webbing.

 It is tied into the previously built hillside.

 The rosin paper certainly indicates the contours we will have in the area and how the pop up box will sit.

Looking back from the other end of the narrows.

Building that Pop Up

 Well, no I have to address one scenery problem and that is the lack of access to the tracks going into the other section of the room. When I built the big mountain and the circular wall backdrop, I created about a 6 foot section of track that will not be able to be reached unless you climb on the scenery. So I need a pop up to get to this. So, I gathered my nail gun, glue and plywood to create a box through the scenery.  I had to do this before I built the rest of the hill, while I could still reach it.

 So, the box is taking shape - to match the topography we will create later with the plaster scenery.

Box is now done. I used the frame of the benchwork to provide a lip for the plug base to rest on. 

 The webbing will now have to be brought up to the box to incorporate it into the scenery.

 Looking from the other room, you see the track entering the narrows and the access that the box provides. All this work and I used this access about once in 10 years - but just in case!

 For the base of the plug, I used 1/8th inch thick plywood. I want this to be as light as possible. The grey piece of wood is a handle to hold it as you lift it up.

 I spliced two pieces of scrap to make the part. It is a trapezoid due to the odd shape of the box. Having two pieces made cutting it much easier. 

 This is a side view of how I made the handle. That is a one by two on top of a one by one.

 Box with plug inserted. Bow we have to build up the sides.

 Plug resting on the frame rails

Plus set to slide in.